The Copper Beech of the Emperor's Garden

The last Emperor of Austria died in this garden. Karl I, deposed in 1918 and exiled to Madeira, spent his final months at what was then Quinta do Monte and died there in 1922, which is why the estate is now the Jardins do Imperador, the Emperor's Garden. The tree that dominates it is a copper beech, 36 metres tall on a trunk 3.52 metres round. That is an odd thing to find here. Fagus sylvatica is a northern European forest tree and this is a subtropical island in the Atlantic; what makes it possible is Monte itself, high on the slope above Funchal in the belt of cloud that the trade winds push up against the mountain. The parish is permanently damp and several degrees cooler than the seafront, and the beech behaves accordingly. Madeira's monumental tree register lists it for size, records its condition as good, and gives its age as sem referencia, no reference. Nobody has dated it, and the estate's own history does not settle it. If you know when this beech was planted, tell us. Entry costs around a euro, often nothing on Sundays, and the Monte cable car from Funchal stops a short walk away.